Foretell the Future? – Predictive Strategies

Foretell the Future? – Predictive Strategies

If you could “look into the future” at your Facility, what would you want to see in the area of maintenance?

Less down Time

Better Planning and Scheduling

Parts on hand

Fewer Emergency Repairs

Machine Availability

Reduced Inventory

Mobile Devices

Barcode

Training

Well, we all know that we can not look into the future – no more than were we to “blink twice and wiggle our nose” – such that our Facilities Maintenance problems would, simply “disappear”. But we do have the tools at our disposal to help the future be brighter. The CMMS tool that is often under-utilized is: Scheduling.

Planning and Scheduling is a scheme with a purpose. It’s intended to utilize your existing maintenance (or contract) resources to reduce downtime and minimize the overall costs.

That is accomplished through:

Prioritization of work

Machine availability

Resources

Tools and materials availability

Scheduling the work to be done

The establishment of priorities is always ‘step-one’ of the plan. Schedule extra down-time, if necessary, with appropriate personnel. Have all tools and materials needed to complete the work ready in advance – so that, only jobs (for which materials are available) are scheduled.

If that sounds way to simple, it may be the case for you, but think about how many times someone has said, “Why was that job completed before ‘this or that’…” or “You can’t take that machine now…” or “The machine has been taken out-of-service…”, and “The mechanic needs ‘such-and-such’ tool or part, but those won’t be available for a week”.

When that sort of thing happens, we all wish we could just, “blink our eyes and wiggle our nose”, to disappear!